Soil-dwelling communities of weevils (Coleoptera, Curculionoidea: Brentidae, Curculionidae) in Central European floodplain forests: a comparative interaction with environmental parameters

Floodplain forests represent the habitats sensitive to environmental and ecological changes. Assessing their impact on dynamics of weevil communities requires a detailed understanding of the environmental demands of each species. Therefore, we studied the epigean communities of weevils in eight similar habitats of floodplain forests during 2015-2016. The study material of Curculionoidea was obtained by pitfall trapping. We focused on a comparison of the occurrence of weevils in floodplain forests and their ecotones alongside three rivers, the Danube in Slovakia and the Tisa and Begej in Serbia. We investigated the dependence of weevil's occurrence on plant diversity of vegetation layers, cover of vegetation layers, area and circumference of forest stands, age of forest stands, distance to the forest edge, thickness of litter layer, physical-chemical properties of soil and litter (conductivity, pH, N, P, C, H) and anthropogenic impact. Total epigeic activity of weevils showed a significant continual proportion with number of plant species in shrub vegetation layer and inverse proportion with relative content of H in soil and circuit of fragment in which we located the traps. Species richness was significantly positively related to the number of plant species in herb and negatively to stand canopy of tree vegetation layers, the area, circuit and age of forest fragment, depth of litter layer, and also to relative content of N and H in soil. Shannon diversity showed a significant continual proportion with the circuit of the fragment. Evenness was positively linked to the fragment area and circumference.

Automated summary

This study investigated the epigean communities of weevils in floodplain forests and their ecotones, finding correlations between weevil occurrence and factors such as plant diversity, characteristics of forest fragments, and properties of soil and litter. The results suggest that weevil activity is related to plant species diversity, hydrogen content in soil and litter, as well as the circumference of forest fragments.